11 Jul 2025
Got in line fairly early for the trip. A large school group showed up. A lead camp, counselor or director approached the staff at the front of the taking Line to check in his group. The entire group was then allowed to board before every other paying customer in line even though they arrived after some of the people in line, taking up what looked like roughly 80 of the seats, including some of the best spots.
Then, I got to the ticket checker showed my app with the TripAdvisor tickets and the lady said “oh the TripAdvisor app you need to go to the ticket window to get your tickets printed”. I went to the ticket window and the lady at the ticket window said “oh you don’t need printed tickets” however I asked her to print them anyways. This request then put me at the very back of the line. This left me with limited choices fir seats (or so it looked) landing me in two seat seats under the roofing of the boat next to the engine with absolutely no view totally ruining the trip..
we got out to the Statue of Liberty and a staff. Member was taking photos for people with Lady liberty behind them. at that point I flagged him down as I had noticed that some of the kids in the school group had moved around and there WERE empty seats out on the boat, out from under the roof, with a view. that staff member was kind enough to let us move into those seats, even though myself and 10-year-old son couldn’t sit together.
The return trip on the boat was certainly better, but it was infuriating that an entire school group could usher onto the boat before people who had been in line. And that the ticket checker didn’t understand that she could scan my TripAdvisor app, despite the fact that the ticket advisor explicitly said that I could go directly to the boat loading. It really completely ruined the experience.
Oh, and one of the kids on the school group stole a water gun so the boat had to stop mid trip and wait until one of the kids could return the equipment creating a pretty terrible awkward experience.
Also another patron, upset by the fact that the school group got put on the boat first got into a loud cursing spat with the ticket checker. A lof of F bombs were thrown around, from both the patron and the women checking tickets, which is not a good look for the business.
In my opinion, refunds should be offered.
Overall, I would not do this again unless it was midweek during a school day to know that school groups wouldn’t be there because that really ruined the experience.